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In BC2, after comparing contents, there was a small Compare Results window which popped up to show a quick summary of the results. Is this gone from BC3?

We took it out of that operation and made the results globally available using the Session->Folder Compare Info command. I think you're the first person to comment on the change, so let us know if it doesn't work for you (and why) or if you want to see any improvements in the info dialog.

ZoŽ P Scooter Software

Comment

I prefer seeing the comparison automatically (as in BC2). For one thing, it's a visual cue that a lengthy comparison has completed. (The log at bottom of screen is not nearly as obvious.) Also, the Folder Compare Info is missing the very helpful icons and color coding which in BC2 helped remind me of their type (i.e. blue for orphans, red for changes, etc.) Now you've just got black text which I actually have to read!

If there are people who don't like the automatic summary window, perhaps there could be a preference to disable it.

Comment

BC shows the comparison results in the main folder comparison view (along with all the helpful icons and color coding ), so the Comparison Results dialog is a bit redundant.

Imagine instead a toggle that switches the main folder comparison view to something like the old Comparison Results dialog -- basically the entire comparison sorted by comparison result and grouped in collapsible sections.

Unlike the old Comparison Results, it would always be the entire comparison and not a selected subset.

Does this sound like it would do what you used the old summary window for?

Comment

Hi, long time BC2 user here and as much as I love some of the new features in BC3, I really really miss the summary results window too...

I often compare the contents of archive hard drives with BC and compares can take a long time, during which time I am working on somthing else on another computer, and I miss being able to glance across the room to see if it's finished or not, I have to get up and walk over to it and actually stare at the screen for a second to work out if it's still doing stuff or not, then even when it is finished, all I get is a bunch of coloured folders, how many items it compared and how long it took, with no information as to how many files are actually different.

I know I can probably set it to beep after long operations (unless you removed that feature too) but the computer I use BC on has no speakers no it's not an option for me.

Furthermore, in BC2 I could double click on a file in the summary results window to open it in a viewer, then close it and go back to the summary results window and work my way through the files of interest, all very quick, all very simple... but now I have to press CTRL+I to get the comparison results window to come up before I know whats what, it has no colour coding which is a step back as far as I'm concered, and if I double click on a file nothing happens, I now have to paw thorough thousands of folders to locate that one file just so I can compare it in a viewer. The BC2 summary results window just made life easy where as now it makes life much more difficult in terms of what I used BC for...

Perhaps most other users here have a different need for BC than I do, but the missing results window is a pain when you are comparing a pair of terrabyte drives, you don't even have an option in the preferences to 'always show results window after folder compare', it's just not an option..

As I am only the second person to complain about this missing feature, I have to ask my self, am I being dumb and missing something thats really obvious to everyone else here ?? Or is this functionality that I relied upon so much, been removed by design for some reason that I'm completely missing...

Please bring it back, I don't want to be stuck using BC2 and have to miss out on the new features of BC3 just because the new interface is more tedious to work with.

Comment

If you want a clearer idea of how many files and folders are different in the BC3 Folder Compare, select Session > Session Settings. Go to the Handling tab and check "Expand subfolders when loading session" and "Only expand subfolders with differences". This will expand any differences BC finds as folders are compared.

You can also try using the View > Show Differences filter so that BC only displays the items that have changed in your comparison.

Chris K Scooter Software

Comment

I too find the new comparison results a pain in the neck to work with. I frequently backup a number of files and folders from to a DVD, then verify the DVD contents by comparing to a master repository on another system.

This can take a while and the BC2 pop-up summary window at the end tells me at a glance that it is done, if there is anything I need to check, and if so, what. There should be an option in BC3 to pop up the folder comparison info window automaticllay at the completion of a comparison.

Comment

Very sad that that is your position on the matter Chris, as your suggestion just doesn't do it for me, it still fails to give me the information I need to be able to interpret quickly what differences I consider important enough to need to look at...

I'm often impressed by new features that developers put in to new versions of programs, but for a new version to have original features removed, thats a new one on me, and a sad day...

I was so hopeful about the new version because so much thought went in to the first 2, but it seems you desire a change of direction for BC3, away from functionality that your existing fan base has enjoyed over the years.

Perhaps you have been listening only to those that 'wish for this' and 'wish for that' and in doing so, you have lost sight of what BC was originally, 98% of this new functionality of comparing C++ files or java script or what have you, is of no use or interest to me, (jolly nice but of no interest to me at all) but this seems to be where you are focusing your efforts and it appears you have no desire to continue to support the customers who have been using your products for years to compare other types of 'non programming related' files.

If you point blank refuse to give us back this essential funcionality, even if it's only an option and you must turn on to get in the first place, then a number of your original users will, like me, probably find BC3 overly complex and tedious to work with and at the same time, it failes to provide the same level of intuative information that it used to right out the box with no provision to get this information no matter how many hours you spend pawing over the preferences, all the while thinking to your self, "no, they can't have taken that out, it's impossible, I mean that was the thing that made BC2 different from all the other compare apps out there, I will just keep looking, it must be an option here some place, they can't believe they would have taken it out!!!!"

But then, after hours of looking, and googling, you discover that you have taken it out... wow...

I just can't begin to imagine why you think this new system is better when it provides less 'easy to interpret' information...

Just cut and paste the old 'results' code in to the next build, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease...

Not everyone that uses your software is using it to compare programming resources, and as much as some of the new features are excellent (like the in line editing of text rather than having to move down to the line at the bottom of the screen to edit stuff), the missing information makes BC3 unusable for people that have the same needs I do, it takes me 10 times longer to establish whats different now, than it did with BC2.

Sorry guys, you clearly put a lot of work in to BC3, but not as much thought as I would have liked, and despite the new features, it gets a thumbs down from me with out the compare summary results window that you can directly compare files from with a double click.

For the time being, I will need to stick with BC2 as I find BC3 unusable for my needs, shame that, really it is....

Comment

I'd like to see the Compare Results window make a comeback too. It was an easy way to see what had changed with minimal clicks. Tim's suggestion sounds OK, but not as good as the old window. If Scooter doesn't want to put this feature back in, can we at least have:

An option to display the Folder Compare Info window automatically after a compare.

The ability to start a file compare by double-clicking a file in the Folder Compare Info window.

Comment

Sorry Chris, I don't get email notifications of replies to this thread for some reason, not sure why, I usually get emails from forum threads I post in...

Many thanks for the reply, I read the suggestion in the link you posted but that's still not what I need to make a rapid assessment of what changes are important enough to look at, or not.

Specifically, the suggestion in your link makes a point of saying, and I quote...

Unlike the old Comparison Results, it would always be the entire comparison and not a selected subset

That's exactly what I find most tedious with the new version.

I only want to be presented with a subset of changed files, the idea of forcing me to wade through thousands of files just so I can determine what's changed is much more time consuming than the original method you used.

Perhaps it would help if I am more specific.

I'm an editor and we use a a range of programs from ProTools to Final Cut Pro for recording and editing projects.

Project files are stored locally on an ethernet disk, however we also like to have off site backups of everything in case of anything unforseen.

The way these programs work, some files get changed during the edit and some files don't, and when porting the data to another location for archive or editing at another studio or by more than one editor, being able to establish quickly the files that have changed is vital to us so that we can reassemble the project at the end and have all the correct files in one place.

95% of the changed files are irrelevant because they can be automatically regenerated by the software, but 5% can not be regenerated meaning they must be sent with the project to ensure that the off site backup is 100% accurate.

An edited project can have thousands of files relating to it and having to paw through all that data to see what's changed makes the task of determining what files need looked at and what files don't, much more time consuming than the version 2 results window.

Perhaps if I was a programmer instead of a sound engineer, I would work out some very fancy rules to customize the output to give me just what I need, but as we are dealing with many different file types and extensions and thousands of files, its really something that's beyond me.

The original summary results window was beautifully simplistic, it told me what I needed to know, in an easy to interpret window and I could see at a glance what I needed to look at more closely and what was unimportant, files that needed looked at could be opened simply by double clicking them in the summary results window.

A lot of thought went in to that results window and it did it's job well as far as my use of Beyond Compare is concerned. It could not be improved upon and it's removal is a thorn in my side, so much so that I have gone back to version 2.

I am prepared to live without the new features of BC3 in order to have the functionality of BC2 as it takes me longer to do the same thing with BC3.

Comment

Are the files you are looking at follow any constant rules as to their naming or location? It sounds like you only want to ever see 5% of the total files in the view, whether they turn out to be equal or not. We may be able to accomplish this by using various File Filters (on name and folder, or other attributes).

For example, if you only need to see files of 2 different extensions, then the filter could only show those two: *.ext1 and *.ext2.

Comment

Count me in also as being very disappointed that we donít have the Compare Results window. It was a major feature for me and I purchased BC3 professional edition not suspecting for a single second that it might not have it!

This is what I did in BC2, please explain me how you can do it in BC3. I have 2 files in the same folder that I want to compare. I simply selected both in the left plane and compared and saw the result in the window. Now even if I go to Session->Folder Compare Info, I donít see the result!
How can you compare 2 files in the same folder in BC3?!